Baby Girl: Rewritten
by MidnightIsland
Summary: (Obvious disclaimer: I'm bad at summaries. A more story driven re-write of my story Baby Girl.) What if Clementine was a baby? After narrowly escaping Howe's Hardware, Luke finds himself lost and alone, until he stumbles upon a small camp. At the camp is a woman, dead set on finding a safe place to raise the baby she's caring for.
1. The Escape

**So, a while back I put forward four story ideas and asked you guys to vote which Fic you'd like to see. They were out of Protect and Serve, a crossover between TWD TV show and video game, A Place To Call Home where Clem and a group of survivors attempts to make a safe settlement to survive in, an unnamed story, a prequel to the original version of this story, and one called Georgie, about a dog…named Georgie.**

 **But these were all pretty evenly voted, so, combined with the fact that I wanted to rewrite my story Baby Girl, I took all the ideas and this re-write and tried to merge them into one. Obviously, some of the original ideas will be more apparent than others, but this way whichever you voted for, it will be in this story some way or another.**

 **So, enough of me, let's get into this. I hope you enjoy this fleshed out and more story-driven re-write of Baby Girl.**

"Alright, we all clear?" Pete said, before looking over his shoulder. "Rebecca, Alvin and Sarah, you go and wait for us by the exit, Reggie should be waiting to break us out of here, make sure he hasn't backed out. Me and Nick, we're getting the weapons from the armory, Luke you're grabbing the food, water, whatever you can nab from the supply. Carlos is getting the meds as we speak, he'll be meeting us at the back gate too."

"Alright, we know what to do, let's move it, everyone. Remember, stay quick, stay quiet and don't draw attention to yourself." Luke said, grabbing a nearby black and blue backpack and holding it by his side.

"Good luck, we'll be out before you know it," Alvin said, putting his arm around his wife's shoulder and splitting up from the group, Sarah keeping close to their side.

Luke nodded at Pete, before moving away from the group as well. He jogged quickly down the dark halls of Howe's Hardware, almost breaking into a sprint. He looked around him every other second, the paranoia of being caught was eating away at him, but he had to stay strong. Before he knew it he was in front of the stockpile of food and water the settlement had.

He dropped his bag next to him and grabbed several bottles of water and cans of food, shoving them into the bag without a second thought.

"Ho-ly shit…" A smug, yet surprised voice chuckled behind him.

Luke's eyes widened as his body tensed up. He slowly turned around, raising his hands above his head. Standing facing Luke was Troy, one of the settlements guards, aiming a hunting rifle at him. "Hey, Troy…now, look let's not do anythin' stupid, alright?" Luke said.

"Stupid? You mean stupid like stealing from Carver? What you breakin' out? Heh…that's good, that's real good." He cackled, in his raspy smoker's voice.

"C'mon now, Troy…this place is falling apart, everyone knows that. You can come with us-

"Us…? There are more of you, huh? I ain't gon' do that, I'll tell you what I'll do, I'm gon' take you and your friends up to Carver, and we'll beat the shit out of ya'll. How's that-

Troy cut himself off with a loud grunt as he fell to the floor. Luke's eyes followed him as he toppled to the ground with a thud, as a boot smacked down on his face, knocking him out cold.

Luke followed the body of the boot to see Pete standing with a grimace, as he slammed a heavy duffle back on the ground next to him. "Didn't manage to grab much, almost got caught." He said, grabbing Troy's rifle and handing it to Nick, who was keeping watch for more guards as the two spoke. "I got these, though."

Pete passed Luke a small handgun before reaching back into the duffel. Luke checked the ammo and safety of the gun before slipping it into the back of his pants. Pete then picked up a machete which was tucked into a sheath. He passed it over to Luke with a nod, before zipping up the bag.

Luke smirked and wrapped the sheath around his back. "Alright, let's get moving, I've got enough food to last us the first few days we're out there," Luke explained, grabbing the backpack.

"C'mon, before that asshole comes to," Nick said, patting Luke's shoulder supportively as the three ran down the halls to the exit.

The three stopped at the double doors which lead to the shipping/receiving bay, to freedom. "This place seem a little empty to you?" Nick questioned.

"Yeah, I don't like it…" Pete said. "Be careful getting out of here, and stick to each other. Like glue, say it."

"Like glue." Nick and Luke said in unison before Pete backed through the doors. The shipping room was completely empty apart from Carlos, Sarah, Alvin and Rebecca, as well as their friend Reggie who was on guard duty that shift.

The group all gathered in a circle, keeping close together. "Alright, ya'll ready?" Luke asked. "Remember, this needs to be quick, once we're out of here and into that forest we're good, at least for now. And keep together, if you get split up from the group, find the old restaurant outside of town, that's just east of here, and wait there."

"Let's move before he finds out something's wrong," Reggie said.

"Reggie's right let's get going," Rebecca said, walking quickly over to the wall-sized steel shutters at the end of the room.

"Reggie! Where the hell are you?!" Reggie's radio yelled. It was Carver.

"C'mon, quickly," Luke said, running over to the shutters, grabbing the bottom of it and attempting to lift it up.

"Reggie! Get your ass up here! It's happen-

The radio cut off as a storm of gunfire could be heard from the roof above them.

The group all gathered together to get the shutter open. They all ran through one by one, stopping just outside the gate, in complete disbelief.

"Fuck me…" Nick gasped.

An army of the walkers were emerging from the forest, one-by-one limping towards Howe's Hardware, with nothing to stop them aside from Carver and a few of the guards on the roof shooting at them, aimlessly, attempting to hold them off for as long as they could.

"What…what do we do?" Sarah squeaked.

"Everyone listening, get up here! Now! Someone's bailing, I want them up-

Reggie turned off the radio which was clipped to his belt and looked at the group. "It's the lurkers or Bill…" He sighed.

"At least with the Lurkers we have a chance," Pete said. The undead were inching closer, the majority of them were out of the forest and moving towards the group at an increasingly fast pace. "We ain't got long before they're too close. Follow me and stick close, good luck everyone."

Pete gave one last look at the group before gesturing to move with a tilt of his head. He began to run diagonally to the herd, attempting to move around them.

The group were managing to keep pace, as Pete led them around the herd, until the gunshots began to fire again. Bullets whistled through the air around the group, one of them landing directly through Reggie's back. He fell to the floor, letting out screams of pain.

"Reggie!" Rebecca cried, jumping back slightly as he fell to the ground.

"What do we do?" Alvin asked, panicking, his voice almost drowned out by the surrounding chaos.

"We need to keep going!" Nick said.

"What?! No, we can't leave him!" Rebecca protested.

Luke looked at his surroundings in utter shock, the lurkers had begun to notice the group and were starting to move towards them, whilst the guards on the roof kept taking pot-shots at them. "Guys! We need to keep moving!" He yelled.

"We can't just leave him for the lurkers!" Sarah sobbed.

"We need to, honey." Carlos sighed, taking his daughter's hand.

"We can't!" Rebecca argued. "He can't become one of them, we've got to take him with us; we can fix him up!"

"I didn't get enough medical supplies as it is, Rebecca, we need to get out of here!" Carlos said.

Luke looked down at Reggie as he groaned and gasped in pain, there was a growing pool of blood seeping into the dirt below him…he wasn't making it. Luke grunted in frustration, taking the pistol from his pants and landing a bullet in Reggie's head.

The group looked over to Luke in shock, before the man could respond he looked over to the herd, they were dangerously close to the group, within grabbing distance of some of the members. "Run!" Luke ordered, sprinting off into a random direction.

The rest of the group did the same, splitting up in all the chaos.

Luke kept sprinting into the forest, south of Howe's. He ran until he knew he was away from the herd, the adrenalin being the only thing keeping him on his feet. He looked behind him until the only thing in sight was a misty forest of evergreens, the occasional walker limping around several feet from Luke.

Luke fell forward onto his hands and knees, vomiting onto the ground below him. He didn't know what caused it, whether it was the thought of mercy-killing one of his friends, from running for what felt like an hour or from the chaos of the entire situation. He huffed, taking exhausted deep breaths, pushing his back up on a nearby tree trunk.

He had no idea what to do next. He was completely lost in the forest, and the rendezvous point was on the other side of the walkers.

Luke brushed his hands through his hair and sighed, finally getting his breath back. He looked around the forest, not knowing where north east or west was. He sighed, choosing a direction and sticking to it, hoping for the best.

 **So that was the first chapter! Tell me what you think of it so far.**

 **The next chapter will be up very soon!**


	2. Christa and Clementine

**So, I may have gotten a little excited and written this the very night I uploaded the last chapter, but hey, tiny version of Clementine, what's not to like, right?**

 **Enjoy!**

It had been days of non-stop walking, with barely any rest, Luke's legs were beginning to grow weak, his eyes were heavy and his back was aching from the water and metal cans in his backpack. He knew he couldn't stand another night, and as the sun was finally beginning to set, Luke knew he needed to act fast.

He was keeping to the edge of a stream he had come across, so he couldn't be surprised from one side. He knew he had to part from it to find some kind of shelter eventually, but the slight sense of security distracted him from the persistent thought of Reggie, and his friends. Whilst they didn't have time to respond, Luke couldn't help but think of their horrified faces as he put down a man who, for all he knew, could have been healed.

Luke paused as he heard a loud clap of thunder above him. It wasn't long before steady drops of rain began to fall on him. The storm gradually got worse as the sun dropped lower and lower.

Luke sighed, his eyes beginning to close, gently. He kept walking as long as he could, finally being caught awake again as he slipped down in the mud, getting his clothes covered in the wet dirt on the forest floor. He groaned, helping himself up off the floor. As he looked forwards, he noticed a faint glow poking through a gap in the thick leaves and bushes.

He approached it slowly, moving the leaves out of the way gently as he moved closer and closer until he heard a loud snap. Luke flinched, his heart beginning to race as he looked down, seeing a twig, broken in two beneath his feet as a gasp was heard from the direction he was sneaking towards.

Luke sighed, standing up tall and approaching the glow, with his hands raised. "Hey, I'm in the forest, alright? Now I'm going to step out…I…I've got my arms raised, I don't want to hurt anyone, okay?" He said.

Several seconds of silence passed before someone spoke. "Alright, get out here, no sudden movements." A woman said sternly from beyond the leaves. Luke pushed through the last set of leaves to see a small campfire with a small rodent skewered above it; there was a tent to the side of the camp, and a large log to use as a seat.

Standing by the campfire was a woman, she looked at Luke with wide but, weary brown eyes as she held a large handgun up, in the man's direction. The woman had a dark skin tone and deep brown hair tied back into a ponytail. She wore a slightly torn yellow and white jacket with a large hood around the back of her neck.

"Hey…uh…I'm Luke." He said, awkwardly.

"That's great. Now I want you to turn around. And then walk away, you hear?" She ordered.

"Look, I don't want to hurt you alright? That ain't why I'm here. I've been walking for days without any sleep, maybe we could come to some kind of deal." Luke said, tiredly attempting to reason.

The woman looked down to her feet before looking back at Luke. "No. Sorry. You'll have to find someone else." She said, keeping her gun raised.

"Please, just hear me out, alright?" Luke asked.

The woman sighed, before staring at Luke with a look of understanding on her face. "Alright, but first I want you to take any guns you got on you and kick 'em over here. The machete too." She said. Luke hesitantly did as ordered, slowly taking out the handgun and machete and passing them over to the woman. "You travel light, huh? Alright, talk."

Luke silently looked at the woman, dropping his bag in front of him and kicking it over to her.

She looked up at Luke and crouched down to the bag, keeping the pistol pointed at him. She unzipped the bag and peeked inside. Her face immediately lit up, followed by a look of shock and confusion. "W-what? Where did you get all this?!" The woman asked.

"That's a very long story…y'know, one I'd be happy to share with you," Luke said, slowly lowering his arms. "Preferably without a gun pointed at me."

The woman looked in the bag and sighed before flipping the safety of her gun on and fitting it into her jacket pocket. "Half." She said.

"H-half?!" Luke exclaimed. "For one night of shelter?!"

"You'll need more than one night, we both know that. Besides, it's not just me." The woman explained.

"If you take half that'll still be a week at least if you ration it out correctly. Who else could possibly need that much?" Luke argued.

"Exactly, so why can't you settle with half? You got someone else I don't know about?" She interrogated.

"No. No, I'm out here looking for my friends, and I'll need that for when I find them." Luke said.

"Well, you either take all this and find them, most likely collapse and die before you do. Or I take half and you get a much better chance at finding them. Your choice." The woman said, stubbornly.

"This group of mine is seven…six…six people. Not two." Luke said.

"Then you can take it all and get out of here, you know the deal. But if you're going to do so, I'd suggest you do, before I change my mind about putting the gun away, do we have a deal?!" The woman snarled as loud as she could without attracting the lurkers.

Before Luke could respond he heard a few noises coming from the tent, before the door was slowly pushed open. "C-Cwisda…?"

A timid and high-pitched voice mumbled. Luke lost his breath at the sight before him, standing at the entrance of tent was an incredibly small toddler, only just keeping balance on her own two feet as she stared back at Luke with huge and surprised eyes. The baby had a slightly paler skin tone than the woman, she wore a blue plaid shirt with an oversized denim jacket over a dirty white and pink dress, as well as a pair of black and white sneakers on her feet.

"Hey Fluffy, did you have a nice nap?" She said, nonchalantly.

The girl wasn't tricked by the woman's sudden calmness. "Why were you yewwing…? Who's he?" The girl asked in a groggy voice, her speech impaired as she had her thumb in her mouth whilst she spoke.

The woman sighed, picking the small girl up with ease and holding her by her side. "Sweetie, this is Luke…he… _might_ be staying with us for a little bit." She said. "Luke, this is Clementine. I'm Christa."

The girl smiled at the man, waving shyly. Luke couldn't help but smile at the girl, waving back at her.

Luke sighed, looking at the bag of food. "Alright, yeah. Yeah, I'm staying. You can have half the food. You need it." Luke said, taking a seat on the log in front of the fire.

"Glad we could come to a deal." The woman said, setting Clementine down by her side and taking a can out the bag and taking the strange rodent off the fire.

Whilst Christa set up the can of soup by the fire, Luke was distracted as he felt a tugging on his sleeve from next to him. "H-hi…" Clementine said, bashfully.

"Oh…uh…hey, kid," Luke said, turning his attention to the small girl.

"Your name is L-uke, right?" Clem said, separating the 'L' from the rest of his name.

"Yeah, that's me but…uh…" Luke chuckled, unsure what to say.

"I've been teaching her how to talk. We're trying to work on pronouncing 'L's." Christa said. "It's not going well."

"Oh right. So, you're Clementine?" Luke said. "It's an uh…it's a nice name."

"Thank you," Clementine said, only just managing to hoist herself up on the log, sitting happily next to Luke.

"Teachin' her manners, huh?" Luke asked.

"I don't need a lecture on how to raise a kid," Christa said, still fiddling with the camp fire.

"Nah, I think it's good. Too many assh- uh…rude people nowadays." Luke said. "You're tough, I'll give you that, being a mom in a zombie apocalypse can't be easy."

What Luke said led to an awkward silence around the campfire. Christa closed her eyes, pouring the soup out onto an old dish she had suspended over the fire.

"Oh…uh…I'm…I'm sorry," Luke said, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Whatever. Look, you'll be here a couple days, at most, so let's keep our pasts to ourselves, huh?" Christa said.

"Sure…" Luke sighed. "So-

"Wait Sshsshssh…" Christa whispered, holding her hand up, listening closely to her surroundings.

Luke did the same, hearing loud laughing and talking from the nearby forest…


	3. Attackers

"What is that…?" Luke asked, in a hushed tone.

"Sounds like talking, and a little too close for comfort…" Christa said, quietly.

"Why are we whispering?" Clementine whispered.

"Just keep doing it, alright?" Christa said, ruffling Clementine's hair.

"O…kay…" Clementine said, scrunching up her face is confusion.

"What should we do?" Luke asked.

"Stay quiet…let them pass." Christa said. "It's all we can do."

"I don't like it. If they get too close we ain't gonna expect it, they'll catch us off guard. Why don't I check it out?" Luke said.

"You're exhausted, I don't need you toppling over and getting yourself killed. If they find you they'll search the area." Christa sighed.

"I-is someone going to hurt us…?" Clementine said, her breath getting shorter.

"No, fluffy, we'll be okay. I won't let anything happen to you, remember?" Christa said.

"B-b-but I don't want you to be hurt either," Clem said, putting her hand in Christa's.

"I ain't gon' let either of you get hurt. I'm going to check it out." Luke said, grabbing his nearby machete and slipping it back in the holster.

Christa sighed and reluctantly handed him his pistol. "Don't screw this up."

Luke nodded and took the pistol. "Sit tight, I won't be long," Luke said, keeping low to the ground. He began to sneak towards the voices, who were still talking and cackling with each other. Just as he turned a corner in the forest he noticed three figures sitting in a circle. He gasped and hid behind a nearby tree, readying his pistol. He peeked behind the tree for a second before snapping back into cover.

"Yo, you see that?" One of the people said.

"Eh, it's that damn paranoia of yours. I didn't see anything." Another said.

Luke let out a sigh of relief, staying in cover for a few seconds. Noticing the three hadn't said anything. He went to peek again to see one of the men standing right in front of him. He grabbed Luke's shirt and threw him to the ground violently, taking out a pistol from a holster around his waist and aiming it at Luke. "The hell did you come from?" He interrogated.

"Tell 'im." One of the other men said, pointing a makeshift spear up to Luke's neck.

"Look, I don't want to hurt ya'll, alright? I come from a small settlement not far from here. I'm just out hunting." Luke said, rushing out a story.

"Yeah? Where is this place?" The man holding the gun asked.

"Look, just let me go, we can work this out," Luke said.

"I ask you a question, you answer, that's how this shit works, got that?" He yelled, angrily.

Luke opened his mouth to respond, but before he could say anything a loud gunshot rang in his ears. The man questioning Luke fell to his knees, before collapsing onto his front as a pool of blood gathered from his back.

He looked up to see Christa holding a smoking gun up where the man was standing. The two other men looked at the corpse before one of them clenched his fists and punched Christa across the face causing her to fall to the ground.

Luke quickly got up, grabbing the machete from his back and running over to the man with the spear, landing the machete in his head. He looked across to the other man who was holding a small revolver. Luke paused for a second before leaping to the ground, grabbing the pistol he had dropped and unloaded several bullets into the man.

"Shi-i-it. You okay?" He asked, standing back up to his feet, before holding his hand out to Christa.

Christa looked at Luke's hand for a second before smiling at him, taking his offer. "I'm alright. Ah,…he got me good, though." She said as she was helped back up to her feet, pressing her spare hand on her face where she was hit. Luke looked around at the bodies before picking up the revolver one of the attackers had, as Christa picked up the other man's pistol. "Grab anything else you can find, I need to get back to the baby, probably scared out of her mind."

He looked the bodies up and down, grabbing the holster on one of them, slipping his pistol in the back of his pants and the revolver into the holster.

Luke walked quickly back to the camp. Christa was already in the process of taking down the tent.

"Need any help?" Luke asked.

"Not with the tent, just…go check on Clem for me alright?" Christa said.

"Uh…I don't know..." Luke said.

"Look, I'm not asking you to babysit, just make sure she's good to get going," Christa said, still attempting to untie the tent. "And hey…thanks for taking care of those guys. I didn't know you held your own so well, my bad. But now we just need to get out of here."

Luke smiled before walking over to Clementine who was sat cross-legged on the other side of the camp. "Hey kid, you ready to move?" Luke asked, kneeling down in front of the tiny girl.

"I 'fink so. Are you ready?" Clem asked.

"Heh, yeah I think I'm good," Luke said, standing back up, looking over to Christa as she rolled up the tent.

"Alright, let's get moving. Think you can grab that bag for me?" Christa asked, looking over to a nearby dark green travel bag.

Luke did as he was asked, putting the strap over his head and around his torso. "What's in here?" Luke asked, noticing how light the bag was.

"That's our stuff. Nothing too exciting, a couple toys, ammo, clothes, diapers, that sort of thing." Christa said, picking up the backpack of food.

"She's still in diapers?" Luke asked.

"She's two years old, genius. Look, I'm working on stuff like that, it's hard to get things done when you're out here trying to dodge monsters." Christa said.

"Right. Okay, we should get things moving before…Christa! Get down!" Luke yelled, dropping to the floor.

Christa's eyes widened as she jumped to the ground, as a flurry of bullets passed over her. "Shit! He got me…"

"Think you can kill my friends and get away with it?" A deep and raspy voice shouted from the forest.

"Aargh…" Christa groaned, grabbing her shoulder. "I…it's okay, I'll be fine but-

"Get up or I swear to god I will shove this rifle up your ass and start firing!" The man growled, still firing in small bursts.

"C-Chrisda…" Clementine sobbed, keeping her voice down.

Christa looked over to Clementine and sighed, smacking her fist on the ground. "Grab her and run, I'll be right behind you," Christa said.

"What?" Luke questioned.

"I can't carry her like this, even if I do, I'll be slow and if I get caught I'm not taking her down with me. I'll start shooting at him, that'll distract him. You grab the baby and run, find a safe place and stay there, I'll find you." Christa explained quickly.

Luke sighed, hesitantly nodding his head in agreement.

"B-but…I…" Clementine said, her lip quivering, desperately trying to keep herself from bursting into tears.

"I need you to be my brave little girl, sweetheart. I need you to do that for me, and do whatever Luke tells you to, okay?" Christa said, as her eyes began to water.

"Hoo-boy, you people are fucked now!" The man in the forest said, shooting off the rifle again.

"Okay?" Christa repeated.

"O-okay…" Clementine gulped, her voice being a small squeak at this point.

"Ready?" Christa asked.

Luke nodded and readied himself to run.

Christa took a deep breath, taking her pistol and the other that she looted off one of the attackers, holding them both up. She quickly rolled around onto her back, her shoulder causing her blinding pain. She gritted her teeth, struggling through it as she shot both pistols blindly into the forest.

Luke took a deep breath, getting quickly back onto his feet, grabbing Clementine as fast as he could and sprinting into the forest as the girl he was holding cried for Christa, holding her arm over Luke's shoulder, trying to reach for her guardian.

 **So that's chapter 3, so far I'm loving this story, and I can't wait to continue it, and in my opinion, it only gets better from here.**


	4. The Cabin

Luke ran until he lost his breath, stopping himself in a large open space in the forest. He set Clem down on her feet, before he slowly sat down on the dirt floor of the forest, holding his head as he took deep breaths. "Jesus Christ…" He exclaimed.

"C-Chrisda…" Clementine sniffled, rubbing her eyes, clearly trying her best to keep from bursting into tears. "L-L-uke…"

Luke got back on his feet, dropping the bag next to him as he began pacing back and forth, breathing erratically as he attempted to calm himself down from the situation that had just occurred.

"L-uke…" Clementine mumbled.

" _What the hell just happened?_ " Luke thought to himself, putting his hands through his hair, as he carried on pacing.

"L-uke, please…" Clementine whined.

"Goddammit, just…shut up for two seconds!" Luke snapped, before looking off into the forest, taking a few deep breaths.

"I…" Clementine mumbled, as her lip began to shake, on the verge of tears.

" _What the hell is wrong with you…? This ain't you, man, get a hold of yourself, that kid don't need your shit. You're not helpin' anyone acting like this, so pull yourself together and look after that girl. Like you did with Mary. You got this."_ Luke scolded himself in his mind, before taking another deep breath and turning back to the girl, gently slapping himself in the face a few times to pull himself back to reality, as he walked towards Clem, who was sitting on the floor, hugging her legs as she looked at the ground.

Luke knelt down on one knee and put his hand out to her. "I'm…I'm sorry, kiddo. And didn't mean to yell at ya'." He said, gesturing towards himself with his open hand.

Clementine looked up at Luke with teary eyes before reaching up for his hand, helping herself back up to her feet, approaching Luke before falling into him, with her arms stretched, as she buried her face in his shirt, beginning to cry. Luke sighed, before wrapping his arms around her, picking her up as she cuddled up to him closely.

"It's alright," Luke said, quietly, rubbing the small girl's back.

"B-but…what if she dieded?" Clementine sobbed, looking up at Luke.

"I…I don't know, kid. I can't lie to you, I don't know. But the important thing is to do what she said, we gotta find a safe place, alright?" Luke said, grabbing the travel bag as he walked past it.

"I…I wanna help, how do we do 'dat?" Clem asked, in between shaky, frightened breaths.

"Keep your eyes out for something with four walls," Luke said.

"O-okay…" Clem said.

Luke began to walk through the forest again, in the opposite direction of the other camp. "You're a brave little girl, y'know that?" Luke said.

"Huh?" Clem squeaked.

"You barely even cried, that's real good," Luke said.

"Chrisda says crying can make more monsters come…" Clem said, sticking her thumb in her mouth.

"She ain't wrong. Still, you…you can if you want, if you really need to. Like you did just then, with my shirt." Luke said.

"She showed me how to do 'dat too," Clementine said.

"Can't be easy, growing up like this," Luke said.

"Like what?" Clem asked.

"Don't have a house, don't have a crib..." Luke sighed.

"But, I have my..." Clementine said, before her eyes widened, becoming teary.

"Huh? What's the matter?" Luke asked.

"M-my…my hat…my hat, what…what if…wha…" Clementine said, her words becoming shorter as her voice became whiny and squeaky.

"Your hat…?" Luke questioned.

"M-my hat, I need it…" Clem said as tears began to roll down her face.

"Hey, c'mon, settle down," Luke said, gently putting Clementine on her own feet, as he dropped the bag next to her, unzipping it. Just as Christa said, the bag was completely full of different items. Luke began digging through baby toys, badly-folded clothes, and other things the two had found for themselves until he came across a blue and white ball cap with a 'D' on the front of it. It was set at the back to the smallest size. "This it?"

Clementine gasped and took the hat out of Luke's hands, and fastened it onto her head, whilst still a little too big, it managed to fit her, she let out a sigh of relief, before taking the hat off and cuddling it to her chest.

"I'll take that as a yes," Luke said, before zipping the bag back up. He put it around his shoulder, before picking Clementine back up. "You okay now?" Luke said, taking Clem's hat and putting it on her head.

Clementine smiled at him, and silently wrapped her arms around the back of his neck, hugging Luke tightly. "Fank you, L-uke…" Clem sniffled, as Luke continued to walk.

"It's alright." Luke said, unable to help himself as he hugged her back. "By the way, it's 'Luke'." He chuckled.

"L-uke?" Clem asked.

"No…not quite." He said.

"Lu-ke?" Clementine said, scrunching up her face slightly.

"Almost," Luke said.

"Luke?" Clementine said. "Luke!"

"Hey, there you go!" Luke said, holding his hand up in front of the girl.

Clementine stared at his hand with a blank expression, unsure what to do.

"You hit it. C'mon, hit it, hard as you can. It's called a high-five." Luke said.

Clementine took a deep breath before slapping Luke's hand with all her strength, which felt like hardly anything.

Luke played it up for her, shaking his hand in the air, in fake pain. "Ow! That hurt." Luke exclaimed.

"Sorry!" Clementine said, with a sincere and worried look plastered on her face. "I'm sorry…"

"Huh? No, kiddo, I'm jokin', it's fine." Luke laughed.

"Oh…" Clementine said, before giggling.

"Hello…look at this," Luke said, spotting a small stone path leading a trail on the forest floor. Luke stepped onto it, looking up and down the path, each way. The ending to both ways were blocked out by the thick forests.

Luke walked down the path, in one of the directions, uncaring of which way, just hoping to come across shelter so he could get out of the cold. The two carried on down the path until Clementine spotted something through the small gaps in the heavy greenery. "What's 'dat?" Clementine asked, pointing at something at the end of the pathway.

Luke gazed at where she was looking, squinting slightly before his eyes widened. "Oh, you little genius…good eye, kiddo!" He praised, beginning to pick up the pace.

It wasn't long before he arrived in front of the thing Clem had spotted. A large wooden cabin, with no lights on inside, it seemed to be almost untouched, unsurprising given its location. He set Clem down next to him as he approached the porch of the cabin.

Just as he was about to take his first step up the stairs which led into the porch, he felt a tiny hand wrap around his. He looked down to see Clem sticking close to him, holding his hand, as tight as she could. Luke took a deep breath before he approached the front door.

 **Ooookay, so just a little bonding chapter, not much happened. Sorry that this one was a little shorter than usual, I'm on vacation at the moment, and this is all I could get out. It'll be back to normal next week. Thanks for reading, you guys!**


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